Jumping the Fencehttps://jumpingthefence.org
Escaping from Unhealthy Cultural Sensibilities
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngJumping the Fencehttps://jumpingthefence.org
Car Dependence and Catastrophehttps://jumpingthefence.org/2016/12/19/car-dependence-and-catastrophe/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2016/12/19/car-dependence-and-catastrophe/#commentsMon, 19 Dec 2016 02:00:59 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=50Continue reading →]]>Last week the Willamette Valley got hit by a winter storm that dropped several inches of snow. Portland has only a few snowplows, people don’t know much about winter driving, and many don’t use snow tires, so the city shuts down with even a small amount of snow.

This recent storm hit at midday, so school was open and people were lulled to work thinking … well, not thinking about their commute home until the snow started sticking about 1:00 PM. By then it was too late. I left work on my bike soon after and Naito Parkway was already locked up with traffic. I heard stories of hours-long waits to go a few miles. Highway 26 over the Sylvan Hill out of downtown became an obstacle course of abandonned vehicles. Some steep local streets had multi-car pile-ups with cars wedged sideways.

My commute home was pretty uneventful. I had to ride carefully since it was starting to get a little slick, and frustrated people in cars were diverting to the neighborhood greenways to circumvent stopped traffic – this created an additional hazard – but my trip took no more than a few extra minutes. I always knew that if it got too slick to ride, I could always get off and walk, pushing my bike home.

Our cities have grown in ways that were not possible before cars. The idea that you can live so far from work that walking home is unthinkable … well, that would have been unthinkable only 75 years ago. Cities were at one time limited to a scale where you could walk. This was expanded by the streetcar, but the automobile has radically skewed our perception of distance. There is little awareness of how strange these times are.

Health benefits of biking and walking to work are obvious, and a good reason to live close to work. But the resiliency of living close enough to walk and bike comes into play at unexpected times. This snow storm provided a taste of what happens when our road system breaks down. Portlanders, if you had problems on your commute because of a few inches of snow, the Cascadian subduction zone earthquake is really going to screw up your life. You might want to rethink where you’re living and working.

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2016/12/19/car-dependence-and-catastrophe/feed/1chrisralldec14_sunsethwyrcb-trafficimageSexual Health and Cultural Conformityhttps://jumpingthefence.org/2015/10/11/sexual-health-and-cultural-conformity/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/10/11/sexual-health-and-cultural-conformity/#respondSun, 11 Oct 2015 17:27:22 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=45Continue reading →]]>The ancestral health lifestyle starts with the fact that our species evolved under a set of conditions as hunter-gatherers for a more substantial period of time than our relatively short period spent as farmers. Therefore, this approach hypothesizes, we are likely better adapted to the former conditions and should mimic aspects of those conditions to optimize health. For diet, this means eating less grains and sugar, and more vegetables, meat, and fruit. It means moving our bodies, spending time outside, and playing. But what does it mean for sex?

The topic of sexual health seems particularly appropriate here given this blog’s focus on cultural barriers to healthy living and the intense role culture plays in our sex lives. We are scarcely aware of how deeply our culture affects our sexuality until we are exposed to cultures that treat sexuality radically differently.

I recently discovered a book that applies an ancestral health lens to human sexuality, surveying sexuality in hunter-gatherer societies and examining how those origins manifest themselves in modern sexuality.Sex at Dawn will open your eyes to a lot of mistaken assumptions we have about what a natural/normal/healthy sex life is. However, it doesn’t lead to any clear answers other than having an open mind about choices and trade-offs people make about how to live their lives.

At the roots of our cultural practices around sex are patrimony – our understanding of who the father of each child is – and patriarchy – the passing down of property from father to son. We men need to know who our children are so we can devote our resources to them, so we control female sexuality through shame (or through force in the past).

Hunter gatherer societies had a different understanding of patrimony where children could have multiple fathers, and even multiple mothers (through breastfeeding), and no property to pass between generations, let alone a patriarchal system. Hunter-gatherers lived in fiercely egalitarian bands of about 100 people where polyamory was the norm and expression of jealousy toward a mate’s other lovers was frowned upon. Sex was more an activity that enhanced bonds within the band than a means of procreation – although it obviously accomplished that as well.

In the book, authors Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha first dismantle the Hobbesian conventional wisdom that hunter-gatherers’ lives were “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” It turns out they actually had it pretty good. While infant survival was horrid, if they survived to age 5, our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived long healthy lives with plenty of food most of the time, loving relationships, lots of leisure time and lots of sex with multiple partners – sex which served to bind members of the band together.

The book runs through the evidence supporting this perspective: observations of extant hunter-gatherers, the shape of the human penis, female copulatory vocalizations, human copulation frequency, lack of human female fertility signals, sexual behavior of bonobos and chimpanzees, and modern human sexual behavior. Read the book if you want details on how these pieces of the puzzle all fit together to support their hypothesis. It’s an engaging read.

With our modern understanding of patrimony, we have partaken of the tree of knowledge and can’t go back to a time when a kid could have multiple biological fathers. So in the end, Sex at Dawn does little to offer sex-life advice for us to better meet our needs and desires other than awareness of these “prehistoric origins of modern sexuality,” open minds about polyamory and other non-hetero-monogamous approaches to sex, and ammunition to push back against shaming of consensual sexual practices.

The anti-Hobbesian picture of our hunter-gatherer ancestors painted in Sex at Dawn brings up issues I’m excited to write about: child-rearing in a nuclear family, and political influence of the ultra-wealthy. I also plan to post soon about another book that offers some sex-life solutions for a substantial subset of us – a path toward resisting shame and patriarchy in heterosexual relationships for better sex and a better world.

Have you read Sex at Dawn and have thoughts, or can you recommend other books on sexuality or family structure?

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/10/11/sexual-health-and-cultural-conformity/feed/0chrisrallSex_at_DawnBourgeois Fitnesshttps://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/bourgeois-fitness/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/bourgeois-fitness/#respondSun, 17 May 2015 20:09:31 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=29Continue reading →]]>If you go out on Tom McCall Waterfront Park on a sunny day at noon, you’ll see a spectacle: hundreds of runners in brightly colored shoes and clothing streaming by. Once in a while someone will stop to stretch or do a few pushups, but running is nearly exclusively what people do here for exercise.

Granted, the river is a great place to run. There are paths on both sides and bridges that connect a very popular 3 mile loop (perfect for a quick lunch hour tempo run) with river paths beyond to link longer routes. Still, why is this virtually the only form of exercise people perform here?

Running requires dedication and hard work without much glory. The research suggests that the upper-middle class goes for this form of exercise to distinguish themselves from lower classes through “boundary-making around ‘self-actualization’ and ‘moral character.’” Running requires one to endure pain for long periods of time and have little to show for it physically other than thinness. An upper-middle class runner might subconciously think that “those people” (lower classes) engage in strength training to build gauche muscles, compensating for their lack of real power within society.

While I haven’t come across research on it, I’ve noticed a materialistic element to cultural identity and sport. You don’t need any particular equipment to run, but you wouldn’t know it on the waterfront. Brightly colored, hi-tech, synthetic clothing with special wicking properties, GPS watches that measure your heart rate and log your fitness data, the latest motion-controlled or ‘minimalist’ running shoes, compression socks – most every runner has two or more of these things. Some of this material stuff is kind of useful, but more importantly, it tells others (and maybe runner himself) something about his level of commitment and fitness identity.

My recent sport choices have led me to thinking about social class and sport. I started practicing parkour last year, and have been fascinated to learn just how much it breaks through cultural barriers. The sport, which involves overcoming obstacles in efficient and/or creative ways, is practiced all over the world, and practitioners appear to have diverse backgrounds, although young males are most prevalent – the sport can be high-impact and dangerous depending on how it’s practiced. I enjoy parkour because it requires no equipment other than a (usually urban) environment with interesting obstacles, and cultivates a balance of strength, flexibility and coordination that can apply to other sports.

Still, every sport has a cultural connection. In particular, social networks are a huge factor in the kind of physical activity people engage in. A guy at the downtown Cultured Caveman food cart told me about Ramman Turner’s Primordial Playground classes which in turn led me to his Intro to Parkour class last year, revolutionizing my approach to physical activity. It makes one appreciate the possibilities. What social connection might lead to my next health and fitness discovery?

On the flip side, what if I hadn’t made a social connection to Ramman? I might still be in chronic cardio mode, dutifully running along the waterfront in my synthetic shirt and compression socks like a compliant upper-middle class white guy.

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/bourgeois-fitness/feed/0chrisrallrunning gearMoving Bodies – Moving Mindshttps://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/moving-bodies-moving-minds/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/moving-bodies-moving-minds/#respondSun, 17 May 2015 03:25:37 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=27Continue reading →]]>When are your most productive days at the office? I find some of my best days are ones that have been broken up by lots of physical movement. When I step away from my work and move, I can come back with fresh eyes to complete a task or try a new approach to something. I think of it as breaking up the day. In fact, a study by the Draugiem group using a productivity app called Desktime found that the most productive workers take 17 minute breaks between each 52 minute working period. I’m not sure how they arrived at such precise optimal intervals, but I’m pretty convinced of the overall principle based on personal experience.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of expectations at a desk job that have little to do with performance of the actual job, and more to do with decorum and appearances, starting with the desk. There is plenty of research to suggest that sitting all day has negative health consequences, but less discussion of how our office environments are overly conducive to sitting and discourage physical movement.

Yes, desks are an issue. Stand-up desks are gaining market-share, but I’ve personally had hip troubles exacerbated by standing still for too long. I’ve set-up a treadmill desk, which I find useful for talking on the phone and taking notes (who doesn’t like to walk and talk?), but ineffective for writing. When it comes down to it, being able to change your position and your environment help your body and your mind to perform better as part of a “breaking up your day” strategy.

But choice of desk and (lack of) chair is really the tip of the ice-berg of moving your body when you’ve got a desk job. If you agree with the idea that your ability to concentrate is limited and you already take breaks, how do you spend that 17 minutes (or whatever break length you take). Do you move?

There is lots of evidence that short work-outs can be highly effective fitness strategy. For example, you may have seen or heard about this 7-minute workout that combines strength and aerobic training. So why not use this time to do a short workout? Well, for starters, you might be wearing clothing and/or shoes you cannot move well in. There might be no space or other opportunity for physical movement at hand. These other aspects to office culture inhibit the opportunity to move on breaks, and therefore inhibit the opportunity to be healthy.

I have a few suggestions to jump these cultural fences, move on your breaks and even while you work to facilitate healthier and more productive workdays. Your office mates may find some of these actions odd, but you’d be surprised who comes round to support movement and participate:

Put a chin-up bar in your office door. I installed one when the city pruned my favorite pull-up branch out in the park. A couple of office mates immediately starting using it as well. It fostered some great comradery.

Wear shoes and clothing you can move in. I often go barefoot in my office and my officemates seem to have gotten used to it, but Vivobarefoot and some other shoe companies make some great minimalist dress shoes as another option. You could also just wear athletic shoes if that’s your thing.

Find spaces and opportunities to move. Parks, especially with pavilions when it rains can be great if close enough to your office. Maybe there is a vacant back office to practice your handstands. Put your laptop on the floor and stretch during that webinar.

On a conference call and don’t need to take notes? Time for a walk. I regularly have 2 hours of conference calls on Mondays, and am able to get a few miles of walking or moving in the park. If I didn’t leave the office, I’d likely be checking email and barely listening, so this strategy helps me pay attention.

There are opportunities to move at a desk job, but you have to seek them out and push back a bit against the dominant decorum paradigm. As more people push, we just might move the cultural comfort zone to a place where more people see moving at office work as completely normal.

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/05/17/moving-bodies-moving-minds/feed/0chrisrallPG-13 Neighborhoodhttps://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/19/pg-13-neighborhood/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/19/pg-13-neighborhood/#respondMon, 19 Jan 2015 23:34:29 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=21Continue reading →]]>I came across this story about Child Protective Services in Maryland threatening to remove a 6 and 10 year-old from their family because the parents let them navigate the neighborhood on their own.

“Police lectured Alexander, a physicist at the National Institute of Health, about endangering his children during a tense exchange, the couple said. Their son called his mom on her cell phone at one point, in tears and fearful that his dad was about to be arrested. A child welfare worker showed up at their home days later with a safety plan Danielle said her husband was forced to sign, or risk having their children taken away.”

The story indicates that these are responsible and loving parents who feel comfortable giving their kids a certain level of independence yet are dealing with police intrusion into their lives and choices. A friend of mine pointed out that it was like the sidewalks were rated PG-13. The parents were under investigation in part because the older supervising child must be 13 to look after younger children under Maryland law.

Child independence is a fence-jumping issue because it is so important with regard to child health and cognitive development as well as parental health, and because it requires bucking the social norm. Back in the 70s, I remember walking to school the very first day of first grade with a pack of kids from the neighborhood – no adult supervision. This was just common sense. We got some physical activity before school, learned to get somewhere responsibly on our own, and all of our parents didn’t send an extra hour or more per day shuttling their kids around. Sadly, this is nearly unthinkable today. Our culture puts expectations on parents to very closely monitor kids until a rather advanced age.

Why? If it is to protect our kids from “stranger danger,” today’s greater fear of child abduction is unwarranted. The risk is roughly the same as or lower than it was back then. As far as cognitive development, kids need time to explore on their own without parents hovering over them. For example, one study indicates that “the more time children spent in less structured activities, the better their self-directed executive function. Conversely, the more time children spent in more structured activities the poorer their self-directed executive function.” Parents’ time should count for something as well. Time-strapped parents need to do other things besides hover over their kids 24-7 or stay locked in the house with them. Know any parents whose health hasn’t taken a hit since having kids? Despite the facts, our irrational culture makes it tough enough to be a parent. Then the law comes into play.

I looked up child-neglect laws in Oregon and here’s what I found: “The law does not specify the age at which a child can be left alone. However, a child under 10 cannot be left unattended for such a period of time as may likely endanger their health or welfare (ORS 163.545).” I find this incredibly vague and disturbing, and since enforcement tends to be complaint-driven, it leaves parents vulnerable to investigations called for by vindictive neighbors. We actually had a visit from Child Protective Services when we lived in California – only because a disturbed neighbor called them with some made-up story. Even a situation like thise where the social worker is able to pretty quickly determine that the complaint is bogus was still pretty emotionally distressing.

These days, my partner and I are still discussing how we will approach our children’s growing independence. It is distressing to have to take the law into account for fear of threats from Child “Protective” Services rather than making the decision purely based on rational judgement of what is best for our family.

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/19/pg-13-neighborhood/feed/0chrisrallbikes on sidewalksTree Climbing is Not a Crime!https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/08/tree-climbing-is-not-a-crime/
https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/08/tree-climbing-is-not-a-crime/#respondThu, 08 Jan 2015 14:20:30 +0000http://jumpingthefence.org/?p=17Continue reading →]]>Remember that slogan about skateboarding? One day while I was out playing in the park on my lunch break, two rangers approached me and asked me to stop climbing trees. I asked if climbing trees was really prohibited and they said indeed it was, along with balancing on railings (another illegal activity I had been perpretrating). I complied, of course, but I was skeptical so I looked it up.

It turns out there are all kinds of prohibitions in Portland city parks: riding bikes on basketball courts (sorry, bike polo players and parents who want to teach their kids to ride), climbing or balancing on just about anything, slacklining, or drinking alcohol. I’ll grant that alcohol consumption has little to do with this blog’s focus on health and fitness. I include it beacuse it is illustrative of how many things are prohibited that, if practiced with courtesy, have little-to-no impact on other park users or the park itself. What’s wrong with having an impromptu picnic in the park with a little wine?

I haven’t determined if these rules are directed at reducing the city’s liability or protecting city property from damage, or protecting bystanders. The preamble indicates that it is a mix of these concerns.

In any case, all these rules are rarely enforced, are non-punitive (egregious or repeat violators can be excluded from parks), and I haven’t seen the rangers around much anymore. So while tree-climbing is technically not permitted in Portland parks, you can almost definitely get away with it. What do you think of these rules? Are you familiar with park rules in other cities?

]]>https://jumpingthefence.org/2015/01/08/tree-climbing-is-not-a-crime/feed/0chrisrallKids in Trees